


imperialis

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attraction, Dark Side Rey, F/F, Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, dark side au, politicking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-28 05:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: She turned her brown eyes on Phasma again. Her dark hair was in a controlled array around her head, pulled back into a perfunctory tail. It made her look scattered in a way she’d never seen Kira before. It made her look wild and untamed. It made Phasma want to muss it further. This was a thought she should not have had and did not want to consider.





	imperialis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shiningstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiningstar/gifts).



If there was one thing Phasma appreciated about her role in the First Order, it was the fact that she could hide behind a mask at any hour of the day and nobody would ask her questions. Even better, it was expected. And unlike when she was younger, it did half the work of intimidating her subordinates for her, made the job she did these days far easier in comparison. There would, for example, have been nothing worse than trying to keep her face straight as Lady Kira stepped onto the utter wreck of the Supremacy’s bridge and said that Supreme Leader Snoke was dead.

Her head did not immediately snap to Hux’s face for confirmation, but her eyes did, catching him in her peripheral vision. Lady Kira would not kill her for this slight, but she may well have made an example of her if she’d so much as twitched visibly in Hux’s direction. “Then congratulations are in order, Supreme Leader Ren,” she said, thoroughly enjoying the way the HUD in her helmet indicated Hux was flushing. Let him be annoyed at her; she cared not. “Your orders?”

Kira’s eyes narrowed and she searched Phasma’s mask for any signs of dissent. They hadn’t often worked closely before, but dissent just wasn’t Phasma’s style, not when her survival was on the line. Her steps, long and languid, brought her within inches of Phasma’s reach, close enough that Phasma could see the endless, gnawing hunger in her eyes. That was something no power would fill, no nourishment, and for one moment, Phasma sympathized with her. She knew what that kind of hunger could do to a person, but she also knew what that kind of hunger could do to the people around her.

Snoke was an example of that. A pity almost. She’d thought him smarter than that.

Apparently she’d underestimated Kira in all of this. She’d thought Snoke was leading her around by her vanities, her insecurities. Either Kira had caught on or it hadn’t mattered in the slightest that Snoke was manipulating her.

“General,” Kira said, waspish, voice dripping with cold venom. Her eyes didn’t stray from Phasma’s mask. “See to it that evacuations are completed. This ship won’t hold together much longer. We must regroup.” She waited until Hux was halfway to the door before she continued. “And ready my shuttle. I intend to meet the Resistance on that sad little planet they’re so desperate to reach.”

Hux bowed his head, a pathetic gesture and one that Kira hardly seemed to notice. “Right away, Supreme Leader.”

As soon as Hux was gone, Kira turned away. Her shoulders relaxed slightly and she released a pent-up sigh. “And what am I to do with you, dearest Captain,” she said, as though Phasma had any say at all. It was a nice thought, but Phasma knew the truth. She was as much at Kira’s mercy in this organization as anyone. With the Force at her beck and call, Kira was more powerful than Phasma. She might hold out a little better than Hux, but she would fall just as decisively as he would. “I’ve guaranteed Hux’s loyalty, but what of yours?”

She turned her brown eyes on Phasma again. Her dark hair was in a controlled array around her head, pulled back into a perfunctory tail. It made her look scattered in a way she’d never seen Kira before. It made her look wild and untamed. It made Phasma want to muss it further. This was a thought she should not have had and did not want to consider.

But it was new. And if nothing else, it was an angle she might exploit should Kira prove herself receptive to it. It would have been no hardship to her to indulge and she had few enough hang-ups about breaching fraternization laws when it came to her own behaviors.

Admittedly, any desire she had to do so were… limited. And rare. And not worth pursuing because again: better to keep clean so that no one has reason to suspect you or the ability to blackmail. Lady Kira could not be used against her the way anyone else in the First Order might have been used against her.

“How would you have me serve, Supreme Leader?” Now she inclined her head, though she did not stoop to Hux’s level. If she’d thought it helpful, she might have tried, but Kira did not value blind subservience or spines made of gelatin. That much Phasma was willing to wager. Already it was much simply doing that: she was wagering her life on this assumption. There was nothing she valued more in this galaxy than her own life.

A disdainful smile spread across Kira’s bitten red lips. “I suppose we’ll find out, won’t we? Your thoughts betray you.” Her hand flicked through the air and, from that simple motion, Phasma’s helmet tipped from her face and clattered as loud as a clap of thunder at her feet. If Kira was hoping to catch her by surprise, she would be disappointed. Her mask was no crutch. Her features would not betray her the way her thoughts apparently had. At seeing Phasma’s face, Kira’s smile grew warmer, more intrigued. “You are striking. I have heard such tales of you. It seems that none of them have quite captured the truth.”

It was burden to keep from rolling her eyes. “You honor me with too much flattery. There is nothing about me that is particularly striking. I’ve done nothing to deserve praise for my appearance.”

“Modest,” Kira spit into the space between them. “Perhaps it is better this way. I would hate to share you with anyone else.”

That almost, almost managed to draw a reaction from her. Confusion mostly, maybe a little bit of reluctant… something. Something Phasma didn’t want to quantify or clarify. To do so would be to admit a weakness. Besides, Lady Kira could have meant it in a number of ways; regardless, the answer was the same and did not matter. “There is no one else, my lady.”

“Good,” Kira replied, though there was no way she didn’t already know this. “Let’s keep it that way, shall we?”

Shrugging would have been unprofessional, but it made little enough difference to her that she couldn’t quite stop her shoulders from rolling ever so slightly, the chrome plate of her armor sliding together. She tried to pretend that it was done in order to perfect her stance, but if the upward tilt of Kira’s eyebrow was any indication, she hadn’t entirely succeeded in her subterfuge. There was no hiding completely from mind-readers and mystics, Phasma supposed.

“I suppose I needn’t worry about your loyalty,” Kira decided, a gleam entering her gaze, hungry, oh so hungry. And for something that Phasma could give to her—and would. “So long as I keep you bought, is that right? So long as you consider yourself safe, you will be mine?”

Phasma swallowed, hating it a little that Kira would speak it so openly.

“I will happily agree to that exchange,” Kira continued, clipped, almost professional, though not quite there either. “It seems a cheap enough price for one such as you. It is not so often that snakes are so open about their natures.”

Phasma’s lips compressed; she had never been other than what she was. If others failed to see that, it was not her fault. “I’ve found the opposite to be true.”

Kira held out her hand for Phasma to take. It was warm and dry, calloused and soft in turn. It intrigued Phasma, who’d only known her own rough fingers. What would Kira’s feel like were she to touch Phasma more intimately? Perhaps she would find out.

“Come,” Kira said. Her eyes turned sly and a little wicked. She knew exactly what Phasma was thinking. “We have a brand new Empire to build, dearest.”


End file.
